Dental plate



Jill 22, 1941. R; s. HAGERMAN 2,250,373

DENTAL PLATE Filed Feb. 25, 1940 will /////I// 3mm I jy? 5177731Patented July 22, 1941 ENETED STATES FATENTI QFFICE 2,250,373 DENTAI-PLATE Royal- SkHa'german, Vilas, 0010.

Application February 23, 1940, Serial No; 320,505

7 Claims. (Cl. 32-2) upper plates without departing from the spirit Thisinvention pertains to artificial dental construction and especially todental plates.

The users or the wearers. of artificial dental constructions arefrequently troubled with the dentures accidentally falling or beingblown out of the mouth. This is especially true in the case of plates inwhich event the wearer lacks natural teeth which can be used as afoundation for the artificial dentures. It. is, furthermore, especiallytrue in the case of lower plates because'the upper 1:0,-

plates under conventional practice can be constructed to adhere to thepalate of the mouth. The tongue structure prevents such adhesive holdingof lower plates.

In the practical application of my invention h'r I make use of the sidesurfaces of the jaw bone of the wearer as a gripping surface for thedental construction, and I provide the base member in which theartificial teeth are mounted with areas which overlap the side surfacesof the jaw bone.

I constructed the plate in such a manner that these overlapping areasare yieldingly pressed toward the side surfaces of the jaw bone.

The entire plate is made of uni-structure of yielding and non-yieldingmaterial and I mold the structure to space the side portions a differentdistance apart than the distance between the side portions of the jawbone of the wearer. The structure must be distorted to insert the platein the mouth, the yielding portion permitting such distortion. I alsorender the yielding portion resilient in a manner to cause theoverlapped portions to press against the jaw bone of the wearer,

The position of the yielding portion. in the dental structure may bevaried without" departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having stated the invention generally, attention is now directed to thedrawing in'wh'icht Figure 1 is a perspective View of one embodiment ofthe invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the embodiment of Figure 1, with parts brokenaway;

of the invention.

As illustrated most clearly in Figures 1 and 4,

the lower plate consists of artificial dentures I mounted in thesupporting base 8. The supporting base comprises a front portion showngenerally at 9 and two side portions l0 and H extending rearwardlytherefrom on both sides of the lower jaw.

The supporting base 8 as in'conventionalpractice is preferably made ofrubber although other materials have been and may be used. In thepractice of the invention it consists of nonyielding portions I2' withportions M- of yielding material in the nature of inserts. The portions[4 are not inserts in the strictest sense of the term because they aremolded unitary with the portions [2 to provide an integraluni-structure.

In practice the non-yielding and yielding pore tions I2 and Hi comprisehard and soft rubber respectively in the preferred embodiment of theinvention.

The dental plate constructed as described is molded to fit the top andside surfaces of the gums wherever it is in engagement therewith, but ismolded to provide a distance between the side members It) and H which isdiiferent than the distance between the side members of the jaw bone ofthe wearer. In the instant case since the pressure is to be applied tothe inside surfaces ofthe jaw bone the members l0 and H are spaced agreater distance apart than the sides of the jaw bone. Projectingdownwardly from the side portions l0 and H are the overlapped areas l5and they extend far enough to be juxtapositioned to the inside surfacesof the side portions of the jaw bone. Usually, this portion of the jawbone is undercut and affords a good holding surface for lower plates.Thus, the

0 overlaps 15 are shaped in a manner shown in Figure 3 is a horizontalcross section of a modi- 5 The'inventionmay also be applied to Figure 6.

In the case where the yielding material I4 is soft rubber, it is alsoresilient and tends to maintain the plate to the shape to which it ismolded. Thus, when the plate is distorted to be inserted in the mouth ofthe wearer pressure will be exerted outwardly laterally to compress'theover-- laps l5 against the side surfaces of the jawbone. If greaterresiliency is desired or required the modification of Figure 3 can beused. This comprises a spring member l5 embedded in the yieldingmaterial It and entirely embedded in" the tooth supporting structures ofthe plate. The spring member It extends into the non-yielding materialpreferably in both directions as at H.

This modification permits the plate to be used in the mannerhereinbefore described.

In the second embodiment of my invention disclosed in Figures 4, 5 and6, I make the overlaps I5 of yielding material molded uni-structure withthe non-yielding material. In this embodiment, preferably, thenon-yielding material extends throughout the front and side portions 9,l, H to the supporting base 8'.

In this embodiment the overlaps are molded to be a greater distanceapart than the distance between the side portions of the jaw bone sothat when the plate is inserted in the mouth, they exert a lateralpressure against the side surfaces of the jaw bone. They thus accomplisha result similar to that described with reference to the embodiment ofFigure 1.

In the modification of this embodiment shown in Figures 5 and 6, Iprovide the spring member [6' which is embedded in the yielding materialat 8 and extends into the non-yielding material as at H. The springmember gives resiliency to the overlaps [5 which function in the mannerhereinbefore described.

Having thus described my invention in detail, I do not wish to belimited to the specific structure shown and described but the scope ofthe invention as measured by the accompanying claims.

What I claim is:

1. An artificial dental construction comprising dentures and asupporting base for the dentures, the supporting base consisting ofuni-structure, non-yielding and yielding material molded to fit thesurface of the gums, the base comprising a front portion and two sideportions extending rearwardly therefrom on both sides of the jaw, eachwith an overlapping area alongside the jaw bone, the base being moldedto space the overlapping areas a different distance apart than thespacing between side portions of the aw bone of the wearer, the yieldingmaterial being resilient to press the overlapping areas toward the sidesurfaces of the jaw bone when distorted from the shape to which they aremolded to the position they occupy in the mouth.

2. An artificial dental construction comprising dentures and asupporting base for the dentures, the supporting base consisting ofunistructure, non-yielding and yielding material molded to fit thesurface of the gums, the base comprising a front portion and two sideportions extending rearwardly therefrom on both sides of the jaw, eachwith an overlapping area alongside the jaw bone, the base being moldedto space the side portion a different distance apart than the spacing ofthe side portions of the jaw bone of the wearer, the yielding materialtending to maintain the base to the shape to which it is molded andbeing resilient to press the side portions laterally with theoverlapping areas urged toward the side surfaces of the jaw bone when thbase is distorted from the shape to which it is molded to the positionit occupies in the mouth.

3. An artificial dental construction comprising dentures and asupporting base for the dentures, the supporting base consisting ofuni-structure, non-yielding and yielding material molded to fit thesurface of the gums, the base comprising a front portion and two sideportions, the front portion including the yielding material, the sideportions extending rearwardly from the front portion on both sides ofthe jaw each with an overlapping area alongside the jaw bone, the

base being molded to space the side portions a different distance apartthan the spacing between side portions of the jaw bone of the wearer,the yielding material being resilient tending to maintain the plate tothe shape to which it is molded to press the side portions laterallywith the overlapping areas urged toward the side surfaces of the jawbone when the plate is distorted from the shape to which it is molded tothe position it occupies in the mouth.

4. An artificial dental construction comprising dentures and asupporting base for the dentures, the supporting base consisting ofunistructure, non-yielding and yielding material molded to fit thesurface of the gums, the base comprising a front portion and two sideportions extending rearwardly therefrom on both sides of the jaw bone,each with an overlap area of yielding material alongside the jaw bone,the base being molded with the overlaps spaced 2. different distanceapart than the spacing between the side portions of the jaw bone of thewearer, the yielding material of the overlaps being resilient to pressthem laterally toward the side surfaces of the jaw bone when they aredistorted from the shape to which they are molded to the positions theyoccupy in the mouth.

5. An artificial dental construction comprising dentures and asupporting base for the dentures, the supporting base consisting ofunistructure, non-yielding and yielding material molded to fit thesurface of the gums, the base comprising a front portion and two sideportions extending rearwardly therefrom on both sides of the jaw, eachwith an overlapping area alongside the jaw bone, the base being moldedto space the'side portions a different distance apart than the spacingbetween side portions of the jaw bone of the wearer, a spring memberembedded in the material of the base and extending into both theyielding and non-yielding material to supply resilience to the yieldingmaterial tending to maintain the base to the shape to which it is moldedto press the side portions laterally with overlapping areas urged towardthe side surfaces of the jaw bone when the base is distorted from theshape to which it is molded to the position it occupies in the mouth.

6. An artificial dental construction comprising dentures and asupporting base for the dentures, the supporting base consisting ofunistrutures, non-yielding and yielding material molded to fit thesurface-of the gums, the base comprising a front portion and two sidepor- .tions, the front portion including the yielding material, the sideportions extending rearwardly from the front portion on both sides ofthe jaw each with an overlapping area alongside the jaw bone, the basebeing molded to space the side portions a different distanceapart thanthe spacing between side portions of the jaw bone of the wearer, aspring member embedded in the yielding material and extending into thenonyielding material in opposite directions to supply resilience to thebase tending to maintain it to the shape to which it is molded to pressthe side portions laterally with the overlapping areas urged toward theside surfaces of the jaw bone when the plate is distorted from the shapeto which it is molded to the position it occupies in the mouth.

7. An artificial dental construction comprising dentures and asupporting base for the dentures, the supporting base consisting ofunistructure, non-yielding and yielding material molded to fit thesurface of the gums, the base comprising a front portion and two sideportions extending rearwardly therefrom on both sides of the jaw bone,each with an overlap area of yielding material alongside the jaw bone,the base being molded with the overlaps spaced a different distanceapart than the spacing between the side portions of the jaw bone of thewearer, a spring member embedded in the yielding material and extendinginto the non-yielding material to give resilience to the overlaps topress them laterally toward the side surfaces of the jaw bone when theyare distorted from the shape to which they are molded to the positionsthey occupy in the mouth.

ROYAL S. HAGERMAN.

